Register



Dec. 9, 1941. 7 G, c, CHASE 2,265,628

REGISTER Original Filed March 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Ge rgg-C77a$ WwLATTORNEY Dec. 9, 1941.

G. c. CHASE 2,265,628

REGISTER Original Filed March 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Georgec, Chas e Patented Dec. 9, 1941 REGISTER George 0. Chase, South Orange,N. J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company, Orange, N. J., acorporation of Delaware Original application March 1, 1940, Serial No. dthis application June 2,

321,732. Divided an 1941, Serial No.

4 Claims.

The invention relates to registers, and it consists-in the novelconstruction and combination of parts, as set forth in the appendedclaims.

The present application has been divided from application Serial No.321,732, filed on March 1, 1940, by the present inventor and entitledRegisters.

The invention provides for the transmission of tens transfer movementsconcentrically with the numeral wheel axis through supporting frameswhich are provided between adjacent wheels, and for the support of saidwheels on said axis by removable supports to facilitate the assembly anddisassembly of said wheels, in a manner to avoid a binding action orexcessive friction on the tens transfer mechanism due to unavoidableimperfections in the alignment of the axial- 1y mounted parts.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention,

Fig. 1 is a sectional viewof the taken on the line l-l of .Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows in cross section a numeral wheel accumulator,

of the units order of the accumulator, the right hand supporting frame,an intermediate supporting frame, and the gear members related to thenumeral wheel of the tens order.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing thetransfer aligner cam carried by each numeral wheel except the one ofhighest order.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken just inside the right end frame of theregister carriage, with the parts in the position taken when 'thecarriage is at the extreme left.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the parts located in the right hand end of thecarriage.

In Figs. 1 and 4 the intermediate supporting frames I5l, which are shownin Fig. 2, are omitted for clearness.

In the drawings the invention is shown as it might be used inconjunction with the register mechanism of. applicants co-pendingapplications for United States patent, No. 176,156, filed November 24,1937; No. 285,860, filed July 22,

1939; and No. 316,738, filed February 1, -194:0, which is similar to theregister mechanism of United States Patent No. 2,089,6 issued to George0. Chase on August 10, 1937. These disclosures illustrate the uses of Ithe invention in connection with any wheel to wheel tens transfer typeof register, as well as its more specific uses with a register of thecrawl transfer type, with or without the feature of normal readingalignment which is shown in the applications and the patent.

Insofar as the parts shown in the present application correspond withparts shown in the 1ssued patent, like part numbers will be used.

That patent and the co-pending applications show no zero settingmechanism for the accumulator, and make no provision for the return ofthe accumulator wheels to zero through the taking of a total as iscommonly done if listing mechanism is provided.

United States Patent No. 1,932,013 issued to Loring P. Crosman onOctober,24, 1933, shows a listing machine having an accumulator of thecrawl transfer type, but in order to restore the numeral wheels of saidCrosman patent to zero, as in the total taking operation, it isessential that a successive zero setting action be provided, in whichthe numeral wheel of lowest order shall be cleared first, then the tensorder, etc. There are various reasons for this requirement of successivezero setting of the numeral wheels of a the Crosman patent, one of whichwould apply equally to a zero setting mechanism adapted to clear theaccumulator of applicants patent, or

of the co-pendlng applications, through the numeral wheel actuatingtrain.

If a simultaneously acting zero setting mechanism were applied to anaccumulator constructed in accordance with the disclosures of Patent No.2,089,682, or the co-pending applications, a cramping action would occurunder certain conditions between the pinion 412, the sleeve of theeccentric hub 430, and the shaft 403 upon which these parts aremounted,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of that patent. This cramping action wouldoccur in case the higher of two adjacent wheels is driven against itszero stop ahead of the lower order wheel, after which the member whichmoved said higher wheel to zero by rotating its pinion "2 reversclycontinues to press said 'wheel firmly against its zero stop, crowdingthe pinion hard against the sleeve, which is in turn pressed againstshaft 403 during the time when the sleeve is to be rotated reverscly bycontinued movement of the lower wheel. It has been observed in practicethat this squeezing effect upon the sleeve may reach such proportions asto require positive instead of spring or frictionally impelled means forsimultaneously resetting numeral wheels so constructed to zero. Thepresent invention embodies improvements which eliminate this cramping action.

As shown in Figs. 1 and digital values are der, it is mounted on aneccentric hub 438 which rotates with the numeral wheel of next lowerorder. The floating gear 418 meshes with internal teeth 413 of thenumeral wheel 413, to transmit both direct digital and tens transfervalues to that wheel, the first by rotary movement and the other by anorbital movement transmitted by hub 438. The gear 418 has nine-tenths asmany teeth as the internal gear 413, thus providing for the tenstransfer movement, as floating gear 418 is carried about its orbit.

A pin 481 is secured in each wheel, and passes through a slot formed inthe aligner cam 485 related to each wheel excepting the one of highestorder. A spring 488 is secured at one end to the pin, and at the otherto the cam, to normally hold one end of the slot against the pin asshown in Fig. 3. This flexible connection between the numeral wheel andthe aligner cam serves no new purpose in connection with the presentinvention, its purpose being described in United States Patent No.2,089,682.

Each aligner lever 483 (Fig. 1) is provided with a lug 484 which maytake its position against the aligner cam 485 of the next lower numeralwheel, under the influence of the spring 486. Aligner gear 482 (formingpart of the above mentioned transmission train) is mounted on thislever, and meshes on its forward side with the pinion 412 of the numeralwheel of the same I order, and on its rearward side with the gear As thealigner lever 483 and the aligner-gear 482 are lifted by cam 485 of alower order wheel, a retractive or minus movement is imparted to therelated numeral wheel, which is sufficient to counteract the crawltransfer effect which would otherwise be transmitter to that wheel fromthe wheel of next lower order.

A bail 489 (Figs. 4 and 5) is provided to lift all of the aligner leversduring registering operations, permitting a free and uniform speedrotation of each numeral wheel. Normally, however, the lugs 484 of theseveral aligner levers rest against their related aligner cams.

The pin 481 which drives the aligner cam also engages an arm I48, formedon a sleeve of the eccentric hub 438, to drive the latter member in timewith the next lower numeral wheel.

Since there are a greater number of numeral wheels in the registercarriage 2 than output gears 411 in the base frame I of the machine,detents I41 (Fig. 4) are provided to prevent accidental displacement ofthe overhanging numeral wheels. Springs I48 impell the forwardlyextending hooked arms of the detents between the teeth of gears 480,unless some means prevents this action. Plate I49 is secured to thestationary frame I of the machine, and holds all of the detentsdisengaged in orders in which the gears 488 are in mesh with the outputgears 411. Recesses may be provided in the forward edge of this plate,to permit the dropping of the detents while the carriage is shifting, atwhich time the gears 488 may move from oneto another of the gears 411.

The gear 488 should preferably be made wider thanthe gear I58 (to behereinafter described) in order that the detent I41 may engage with thegear 488 and not interfere with the rotation of gear I58.

A supporting frame I5I (Fig. 2) is located between each two adjacentnumeral wheels, and is provided with a cylindrical bearing, upon whichthe pinion 412 is mounted, while the sleeve of the eccentric hub 438which rotates with the wheel of next lower order is mounted within thebearing, so that any radial pressure from the pinion may not betransmitted to the sleeve. This eliminates the cramping action referredto above, and

supporting frames I5I are also advantageous in maintaining alignment ofthe accumulator elements of a four rules calculating machine, which isfrequently provided with twenty or more numeral wheels.

The numeral wheels 413 and the aligner cams 485 are mounted for rotationconcentric with the sleeves of the eccentric hubs 438 by means of asectional shaft 483, the sections of which are in turn supported at eachend within the sleeves of the eccentric hubs. By this arrangement anumeral wheel and its aligner cam may rotate upon their supportingshaft, or the shaft may rotate individually within the sleeves, whichever offers the least frictional resistance to rotation.

The shaft sections are held in their proper longitudinal position bymeans of adjustable screws I52, one in each end frame of the carriage,these screws being so adjusted as to permit slight endwise freedombetween the shaft sections.

The aligner cams and the numeral wheels may be readily removed from themachine by removing screws I52 and the shaft sections, unhooking thesprings 488 from the pins 481, and removing the cams, which provide thespace necessary for the removal of the wheels. Any wheel and its relatedcam may be individually removed from the machine at will by the use ofthe well-known follow through" shaft which is used to push out some butnot all of the shaft sections, according to the position of the wheelwhich it is desired to-remove, then retracting said shaft the distanceof one numeral wheel space to free that wheel and its cam.

The use of a separate shaft section for each wheel, instead of a singleshaft extending through the several wheels, eliminates any tendency tobind the sleeves of the eccentric hubs 438, resulting from imperfectalignment of the sleeve, or lack of straightness of .the shaft.

Secondary actuator The numeral wheels are normally driven by -the outputgears 411 of the differential actuator mechanism, but may alternativelybe driven by the gears I58 which are mounted on the power shaft I53(Fig. 4). Spring impelled plunger pins I54 carried by collars secured tothe shaft engage each with one of a series of depressions formed in theadjacent gear, so that the'gears will be driven in the rotation of theshaft unless held by some means, in which case the plunger pins willyield, permitting the shaft to complete its rotation. Such aconstruction is extensively used in the zero setting mechanism ofcalculating machines and is well known.

Each gear I58 is provided witha pin I55 which serves to limit themovement of the gear by contact with a tooth I58, secured upon thehousing of the carriage. As shown in Fig. 4, the gear I58 is in its zeroposition. v

As will be explained hereinafter, the gears I58 may serve for storingvalues, or indicating grand totals-as well as for a secondary actuator.Consequently a numeral wheel I51 is secured to a gear I58 which ismounted on a shaft I59, and meshes with the gear I50. This numeral wheelmay, if desired, be secured directlyto the gear I50, and the gear I58eliminated, or may even be eliminated-altogether, since the gear I50 isof Selective meshing mechanism A key I60 (Fig. is provided for liftingthe gear 480 from engagement with gear 411 and into engagement with thegear I50. Depression of this key rocks a lever I 6I to which it is piV--oted. This lever is pivotally mounted on a fixed stud I62 and isprovided with a rearwardly exessary. These arms are pivoted at theirforward ends upon the axis of the numeral wheels 413. Pinions I65 aresecured to each end of shaft 53, and engage with fixed racks I66 so thatthe shaft is rotated as it is lifted, and maintained in a. horizontalposition, carrying the arms I64 with it. A rod I61 underlies therearward ends of the arms, limiting their downward movement.

Shaft 48I, upon which the gears 480 are free to rotate, is carried bythe arms I64, forming therewith an oscillatory frame. The supportingframes I5I are not shown in Figs. 1 and 4, but slots are to be providedin these frames to permit the ifting of this shaft. Springs I68 tend tohold the gears 480 normally in mesh with gears 411.

The aligner levers 483 are also pivotally mounted on shaft 48I, as seenin Fig. 1, so the aligner gears 482 which may stand in variouspositions, according to the position of the next lower numeral wheel(excepting the gear 482' of the units order which is mounted on theright hand arm I64) maintain substantially the same relative positionwhen the gears 480 are lifted ations from either source of movement.

A spring impelled latch I68 snaps under the the lever encounters a lugI11 formed on the releasing lever I1I, depressing the lever and passingto the rearward side of the lug, which resumes its previous positionunder the influence of the spring I13. When the nose of the lever fallsback into the notch at the end of one revolution in a clockwisedirection (under the influence of spring I18 as will be hereinafterdescribed) the lower end of the lever encounters the lug I11, and theangle of the contacting faces is such that the lever I1I will not bedepressed, but the latch I68 will be carried forlifted shaft 48I,holding the gears 480 in mesh with the gears I50, until this latch ismanually or automatically released. The latch is pivoted on the shaftI53, and its upwardly extending end passes through a slot in thecarriage housing, and is provided with a key button I which may bepressed manually to effect the release. A releasing lever I1I is pivotedon the latch, and provided with a lug I12 which is impelled by a springI13 against the rearward edge of the latch, these two parts normallyacting as one and the spring functioning to snap the latch beneath theshaft 48I. Automatic means are provided to release the latch at the endof each clockwise rotation of shaft I53. Spring impelled plunger pin I14is mounted near the right hand end of.this shaft and serves to rotatecam I15 in a clockwise direction, but not in a counterclockwisedirection. A nose of follower lever I16 normally rests in a notch of thecam, and is positioned rearwardly during substantially the entire cycleof clockwise rotation of the cam. During its rearward movement, thelower end of ward, allowing the shaft to resume its normal position withthe gears 480 in mesh with the gears 411. In this action the latch I68is carried forwardly somewhat more than is required to release the shaft48I, in order that the lug I11 which is moving in an are about shaft I53may escape from the lower end of lever I 16, after which the spring I13retracts the latch until it rests against the forward side of shaft 48I,the lug I11 at the same time swinging beneath the lower end of lever I16and coming to rest in the position shown in Fig. 5. The slot in thecarriage housing through which the upper arm of the latch passes is longenough so that the arm may move a short distance rearwardly, and agreater distance forwardly from the position in which it is shown.

When the gears 480 are lifted into mesh with the gears I50 it isessential that the detents I41 which have previously been in engagementwith the gears 480 which stood at the right or the left of the outputgears 411 of the differential actuator mechanism shall be lifted. Thesedetents are mounted on the shaft I63 which is lifted as previouslydescribed whenever key I60 is depressed, carrying rearwardly extendingarms I18 of the detents against the rod I61, withdrawing any detentswhich may have previously engaged the gears. The numeral wheels 413 arenow subject to the control of the gears I50.

Setting of the zero stop rocker frame I16 rearwardly and holding it setuntil the end of the cycle, the rearward edge of said lever pressesagainst a pin I8.) which is mounted in an arm I8I which forms the righthand end of a zero stop rocker frame I82 which bridges all of thenumeral wheels 413 and is pivoted at each end of the carriage on thefixed studs I62. The lever I16 is pinned to the shaft I58 on the lefthand end of which there is secured a duplicate lever which acts on asecond pin I in the left hand arm I8I, to provide for parallel operationof the zero stop rocker frame I82. This frame is provided withupstanding fingers I84 which normally stand out of the path of travel ofthe pins 481 of the numeral wheels (Figs. 2 and 5), but are moved intothe path of these pins to arrest the wheels at zero as they are rotatedin a subtractive direction in zero setting operations. Upon thecompletion of a cycle of operation of the shaft I53 and the cam I15 in aclockwise direction, the rocker frame I82 resumes its normal positionunder the influence of spring I18.

Rotation of shaft 153 The shaft I53 is adapted for selective rotation ineither direction, according to the function it has to perform. In acommercial machine it should preferablybe operated by motor power underthe control of selectively operable func tion keys, but such a drivingmeans forms no part of the present invention and is not shown. Thisshaft could be driven selectively in either direction by a hand crankapplied to its right hand end. A spring impelled locating roller 585(Fig. 5) rides. a cam use secured to shaft 553 to facilitate thelocation of said shaft in full cycle position.

Elemental operations Total taking and value transporting operations ofthe numeral wheels 613 through the difierential actuator gearing sir arefacilitated by this invention, since the crawl transfer accumulatorwheels may be zeroized simultaneously. Aside from this there are fivedifferent and useful operations which may be performed by the selectiverotation of shaft I53, in some of which the keys Hill and Ill) must alsobe used. These five operations are:

1. Clearing the grand total indicator.

2. Transporting values from the accumulator to the grand totalindicator.

3. Transporting values from the grand total indicator to theaccumulator.

4. Accumulating grand totals.

5. Clearing the accumulator.

Four elemental operative movements are involved in these five differentoperations, as follows:

(a) Depression of the key I60. mib) One cycle of clockwise rotation ofshaft One cycle of counter-clockwise rotation of shaft I53.

(d) Operation of key no.

Operation No. 1 is affected by movement (0) (rotating shaft H53 onerevolution counter-clockwise). This rotates the gears 850 and the wheelsl5! until the teeth use arrest the grand total indicator wheels with Osshowing through the windows in the carriage housing.

Operation No. 2 is efiected by movement (a) (depression of key 860) and(b) (rotation of shaft H53 clockwise). This clears the accumulator,transporting the value it contained to the grand total indicating wheels9511 which should have stood at zero when operation No. 2 was started.At the end of this operation the gears 488 resume their engagement withthe output rev aaeaeae total indicating wheels in movement (1)). at theend of which operation latch its is automatically released, permittingthe gears 380 to resume their normal position in engagement with gearst'll.

Operation No. 5 is effected by movements (a), (b) and (c). In movement(22) the accumulator 573 is cleared to zero, transporting the value tothe grand total indicator l5! which, if constructed according to Fig.'4, must have stood at zero before this operation was started. At theend of movement (b) the gears 489 are automatically released fromengagement with gears 556 so that in movement (0) the grand totalindicator 551 is cleared to zero.

- I claim:

i. In a register, a series of supporting frames provided each with acylindrical bearing, an accumulatorincluding a series of differentiallydriven pinions mounted on said bearings, tens transfer mechanism of thedirect wheel to wheel type and including cylindrical elements mountedwithin said bearings, a; sectional shaft comprising sections eachsupported within two adjacent cylindrical transfer elements, and aseries of numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a sectionof said shaft.

2. In a register, a series of supporting frames, an accumulatorincluding cylindrical elements rotatably mounted in said frames andhaving movement transmitting extensions, a sectional shaft comprisingsections each supported within two adjacent cylindrical elements, aseries of numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a sectionof said shaft, and means for maintaining the individual shaft sectionsagainst excessive endwise displacement.

3. In a register, the combination with a series of yieldably driven zerosetting gears and drive means operable to impart a simultaneous drivingimpulse tothe gears of said series; of a series gears an of thedifferential actuator mechanism,

as previously explained.

.OperationNo. 3 is efiected by movements (:1),

(0) and (d). The rotation of shaft 853 in a counter-clockwise directionin this operation clears the grand total indicating wheels 551,transporting the value to the accumulator 573 where it will be added toany previous value which may have been registered. If accumulator 413previously registered a complemental (negative) value the effect will besubtractive. Operation of key I10 following the rotation of shaft I53restores the gears 480 to their normal engagement with gears 47?.

Operation No. 4 is effected by movements (a), (c) and (b). In movement(c) the indicating wheels I51 are cleared, transporting the-value to theaccumulator 413 where it is added to the newly registered total toaccumulate a new grand total, which is then cleared from the accumulatorM3 and transported to the grand of supporting frames provided each witha cylindrical bearing, an accumulator comprising orbital differentialgearing including a series of input pinions mounted on said bearings anddesigned for driving connection with the zero setting gears, tenstransfer input elements mounted within said bearings, and a. series ofoutput numeral wheels provided with zero stops, and cooperating stopmeans adjustable to active position by the drive means.

i. In a register, the combination with a series of yieldably driven zerosetting gears and drive means operable to impart a simultaneous drivingimpulse to the gears of said series; of a series of supporting framesprovided each with a cylindrical bearing, an accumulator comprisingorbital differential gearing including a series of input pinions mountedon said bearings and designed for driving connection with the zerosetting gears, tens transfer input cylindrical elements mounted withinsaid bearings, a sectional shaft comprising sections each supportedwithin two adjacent cylindrical transfer elements, and a series ofoutput numeral wheels each individual to and mounted upon a sectionGEORGE CHASE.

